Posts by boa

37

Looking Back, How Did You Really Feel About "The Truth"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

did you love it?

were you in awe of it?

were you a true believer?

boa

Looking back - I was a believer. Being born into the whole thing is its own trap. I have particularly idealistic relatives and this leads to a severely distorted view of the world imo.

I also believe that my deep down person who I am inside would inevitably reveal itself and oppose such strong control. It was critical I think though, for me to have 'irregular' (another jw term) for several yrs so I could start to think for myself. Of course 'independent thinking' being a great sin in the wts.

BluesBrother I like your points. I 'sacrificed' much to build my whole life around kh activites. I fought with the idea in the last 5 yrs of 'how can I know better than the much smarter bros in the gb?' and your 3rd point - It also took something special for me to go down the path (took 5 yrs) of realizing its baloney, namely, bethel, and reading the Bible from start to finish as required in 1st yr b.

And I really love how most in the org would be looking at me now thinking I'm a weak one - arrrrgh! It might even be true but convicted only because of a lack of meeting att and (counted) service hrs cuz for the last year or so anytime I 'witnessed' I didn't count the time anyway - ha.

boa

18

I finally finished "Crisis of Conscience"

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

last night, i decided to finally finish off the book.

it takes me forever to read a book, and after a year, i've finally completed it.

quite a good book, although i found myself skimming through the last chapter called "perspective".

boa

Great post bringing up this book again.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I pretty much made up my mind about the org and leaving it (though not publicly yet) before joining any site like this one. However, on this site that book was mentioned and I immediately went to lib and got it and finished it in a few days. I found it a great but disturbing read coming from 30 yrs in the org. I wasn't really super surprised but still it really really hurt to come to the conclusion that the men at the top are just men and that the history of the org is full of hypocrisy and or hokey pokey chronology stuff.

I'm like a freight train heading out now with my family but am still careful as I need to show discretion and care to those I love still in - but they cant' hurt me anymore if it comes right down to it!

I thought the book was written in a way that is credible and reasonable - a sure fire way to mow down a one-sided defense the wts puts out to avoid 'apostates'. I'm gonna read his other book as well as the Carl Olaf Johnson one on chronology stuff.

Take care,

boa

59

JW Urban Legends

by ZeroKool29 in

i was once told that john denver (folk singer of songs like rocky mountain high and such) was on the tonight show one night.

he was a huge patriot and apparently had no love whatsoever for jw's.

apparently as the story goes, john gets up to sing a patriotic song and before he begins tells the audience "if there are any jehovah witnesses in the audience, you may want to leave right now.

boa

i've heard of both the jd concert and the jc show incidents but of course i've moved mentally from where I used to live and now reside mentally in missouri where you now have to 'show me'

i also heard of another rumour that at a Genesis concert many years ago there was a levitation act and that before it was done, someone in the band (mighta been when Peter Gabriel was the singer, not sure) asked for all jws to leave so it would work. Sounds like typical bs rumour to substantiate that somehow God is protecting witnesses everywhere from imminent demonic activities and if they're there, such activities won't work - sheeeesshhhh. It really pissed me off this rumour cuz that was and still is my overall favourite band and when I was really 'in', I had to somehow ignore this rumour - successfully I might add. Love of music was greater than shadowy superstition.

ah well, i'm kinda bitter about all this stuff right now, so excuse the sarcastic tone

boa

38

Would You Buy Lottery Tickets In Front of a Jehovah's Witness???

by minimus in

jw
friends

...just curious.

boa

funny you should ask. I just told my wife this morning that i'm gonna buy a lottery tickey - it would be the first one in my life, and we chuckled about it.

Still not sure if i'm gonna do it if I know another witness is watching but then again, whatever.

After drifting to this point with the org for the last five years, i'm quickly heading towards taking my family and leaving all the mumbo jumbo behind

Maverick - love the cigar story. I finally had one 3 yrs ago - first time trying smoking which is something I normally hate, but ohhhh was it fine (so was the rye i was having!)

boa

20

1993 Circuit Assembly Demonstration that Involved "The Firm" (1993)

by FirstInLine in

i remember in 1993 at one of the circuit conventions that they did a drama in which a young adult woman living with her parents was going to go see "the firm" (1993) with some other young adult jws.

when she told her parents of her plans they expressed their concerns and she pleaded that sometimes a really good movie is ok to go see if it is rated r. she heard from reliable sources that there wasnt anything really bad with it like gratuitous sex, drugs or demonic themes.

in the end her parents convinced her that jehovah would still not approve because it was rated r. she was reminded that even worldly people recognize it is a bad movie because they are the ones that gave it the r rating.

boa

I don't recall this specific movie being mentioned, however, i do remember as a teen hearing in talks at the hall how bad the songs 'bridge over troubled water' and 'my way' were. The first apparently is about drugs (thanks for telling me, now that I know I need to smoke something) and the last because of an independent attitude (definitely a big sin, cuz, doncha know you might think for yourself and use your God-given brain and leave this ridiculous meeting).

The other thing I remember, and its kinda funny now that I'm in hardcore fade I've been remembering little snippets of 'the light getting brighter and brighter' for myself when I was really a 'good jw' ( is there such a thing?). Anyway, the other thing was a pt discussing things associated with spiritism and a huge long list was read out with stuff like horoscopes etc and black holes were mentioned???? My little science-interested mind went screeeeeech, WHAT, did I hear that right? What hokey, but wait a minute, maybe there's something to it, oooohhhh, fear, fear, I better be careful, the bros must know something I don't. The list sure seemed like it was part of the outline, and since I have most of them, I should look for it and see if its been 'updated' or still the old way. I'm sure they got rid of it now since black holes have been commonly mentioned in Awake for years.

I think the Police were on the 'bad' list because Sting related having some song ideas or lyrics come from his dreams, and don't forget the one album title 'Ghost in the Machine' - baaaad, baaaaaad.

boa

36

My Bio - and official hi to everyone.

by Freddy Krueger in

jw
friends

well, i've posted a few topics already and responded to a few.

and spoke with some of you.

well i just wanted to give you a little background on me.

boa

hello freddy,

i appreciated yer story as it touches a chord with mine and maybe just about everyone who 'sees the light about ever increasing light' and the wts

i'm still in but mentally, emotionally, and physically move my family and self farther away.

been there and done that with talks, witnessing, bethel, assemblies etc etc etc like you and am still in shock over the bubble bursting of my life long religion

i've got major family numbers all in the borg and can only hope a few can be 'saved' - just a few would make breaking free forever much easier

look forward to more of your story

boa

ps the pic of the 'master chief' of the halo character i use: the body armour is my present defensive outer shell to survive the inner pain of a life born into the org. the weapon may be figuratively used on insulting ignorance of uniform thinking

22

Spankings In The KH Bathroom

by Hunyadi in

.

oh, how many times have we heard the loud hard spankings of toddlers' and preschool aged children by their parents for making noise at the meetings echo from inside of the kingdom hall restrooms?

until now it was a memory i had forgotten, but it really bugs me now.. hunyadi

boa

great thread Hunyadi

i've got a very active 4 yr old boy and he gets on my nerves understandably but i'm definitely opposed to spanking. not saying never ever ever but so far haven't had to yet.

my view is that spanking generally is an ignorant and easy way out to release the parents frustration more than anything it will actually accomplish in teaching. ESPECIALLY a two year old. Any basic foray into modern knowledge on child development will quickly show infants and young children cannot be 'bad' and to tell them they are bad when discipling regardless of method is also wrong imo.

anytime i lose control and yell even at something my boy does is my own lack in understanding and self-control. to me spanking in general is violence and teaches that message whether subtly or overtly to children and later as they become adults.

i'm not saying i wouldn't give a smack on the clothed backside to 'snap him out of it if his life was in danger although i so far have been able to use forsight of such situations and/or removing him from teh danger before needing to spank

my step-f woulda gone to jail for the things he did in our family years ago imo - but no matter, even if it was today we were so controlled by him (kinda a hand-in-hand with being a jw fam) that we probly wouldn'ta squeeled to anyone. we were VERY clearly told by him that in no uncertain terms were family matters to go outside to anyone else.

thanks for letting me rant a little and all this is imoo

boa

'spank a kid a day and you'll keep the love away'

61

My life ... and how JWD came to be - Part 2

by Simon in

previous: my life ... and how jwd came to be - part 1. .

how many times have people said ?if i knew then what i know now??

what a difference that would have made to my life.

boa

thanks simon for your heartfelt testimony,

i can only hope and work towards surviving my own ordeal of growing up in the org and am glad to have my wife united with me in our present course on the way out - (but still fading)

looking forward to the rest of the story

boa

25

I was DA'd without my consent. Whadda buncha hypocrites!!!!!!!!!!

by Love_Truth in

jw
friends

i was raised a jw, seriously studied the bible, consumed it, and in my decades, found very few jws or non-jws who knew it as well as i. i love god's word, the bible.

i left the jws as a teen/young man, df'd for fornication, with no witnesses, and i never showed for the judicial commitee.

when i came back in (in my 20s) and was re-instated, i was "super jw", very zealous, and very vocal and knowlegeable of the bible.

boa

hi love_truth

your story touches a chord to my own which involved several years of ftservice including bethel etc etc but didn't quite make it to elder. close but no cigar (hehheh - which i've secretly enjoyed a coupla times in the last coulpla years). thanks for relating it.

i'm still technically 'in' but fear the course i'm on (with my immediate family) will eventually be like yours. some busybody interfering sob is gonna squeal when i slip on my presently careful steps. MAN I hate going through this!!! I'm still way too programmed to be sure of anything.

but this is your thread and i just wanted to comment that we have some similarities in our story.

bty your pic is very kewl - l love star trek and think tng was overall the best - any who wish to stone for this 'apostate' comment on tng versus the original or any of the latest incarnations will have to get in line behind the 'gunners' in the cong who no doubt are keeping their eye on me!

boa

the wts is kinda like st in belief in the unreal and seemingly impossible...oh yah and the series changes and just goes on and on (jeece i almost typed that without conscious thought - i'm weirded out)

52

Which One Lie Hurt You The Most About Jehovahs Witnesses?

by shamus in

jw
friends

which one teaching really hurt you when you found out that it was not true?

my number one thing is finding out that the name "jehovah" was not in the bible like it was in the new world translation (tm).

christians did not call god "jehover" "jehovah" or by his first name, no more than you would call your father by his first name when you were a child.

boa

my big problem right now is the seemingly trustworthy evidence that the fellows at the top of the org are just men, not so spirit directed, and full of politics which i REALLY REALLY HATE. Not telling truth so as to tickle the ears of the masses of jws or worry over what they will do REALLY REALLY ticks me off.

I say give me the cold hard truth like : we REALLY REALLY screwed up here and i'll respect you far more in the morning. Or, we REALLY REALLY don't know so we won't say anything right now would be fine by me too.

You may be able to tell i'm in the middle of COC but had my suspicions some time before about this stuff.

boa

'still in the org but not sure for how long'